a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to equipment for mowing and trimming grass and the like, and, more particularly to a mower trimmer combination for facilitating simultaneous mowing and edge trimming of grass and the like in a single pass.
b. Description of Related Art
The maintenance and caretake of sizable real property generally involves a substantial investment of time, labor and expense in the maintenance of the natural grounds of the property. For owners of cemeteries and the like, such maintenance is of paramount importance, as the continued success of such a business depends largely upon the visual upkeep of the property. In addition to the general maintenance of trees, pathways, benches and fence lines, cemeteries require virtually year-around maintenance of grass in the areas of the headstones. The continued ownership and upkeep of a cemetery thus requires a substantial investment in mowing and trimming equipment, as well as a substantial investment in personnel for performing such services.
Due to the generally uniform spacing between headstones, cemeteries typically utilize standard 44″-72″ commercial ride-on mowers for cutting grass between upright headstone sections, as well as for cutting grass in the area of level headstones. Thereafter, with the grass between the headstone sections cut, a number of personnel are often utilized to trim the grass adjacent the edges of the headstone sections, as well as the grass adjacent the edges of trees, pathways, benches, fence lines and the like. It therefore becomes readily apparent that a significant portion of an annual operation budget for a cemetery includes the monetary investment for employing personnel for cutting and thereafter trimming grass and shrubbery as needed, as well as the monetary investment for purchasing and maintaining such cutting and trimming equipment, and the reduction of such an investment would be highly desirable.
In the art, there exist a variety of automatic equipment such as portable line-fed weed trimmers and walk-behind weed trimmers. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,303,532 and 5,694,752, the respective disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, there even exist a handful of systems for retrofitting trimmers and other equipment to existing riding lawn mowers or tractors for enabling removable coupling thereto. For example, the retrofitting systems disclosed in the aforementioned '532 and '752 patents provide assemblies for attachment of free-standing trimming tools that may be pulled besides or adjacent the lawn mower or tractor. While such retrofitted systems may be adequate for limited use for a relatively small landscaping operation, for large landscaping operations such as cemeteries and the like which require virtually year-around maintenance, such systems are highly inadequate due to the susceptibility of the trimmer attachments to damage, as well as the requirement for virtually constant adjustment of the trimmer attachments. Moreover, the retrofitted systems disclosed in the '532 and '752 patents would be unacceptable for cemeteries and the like for which unguided contact of a trimmer wire with a headstone would be unacceptable due to the resultant damage to the headstone, and for which multiple passes would nonetheless be needed to mow and trim a given area due to the un-synchronized cutting areas of the mowing and trimming units.
Yet further, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,949,534, 5,065,566, 5,159,803, the respective disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, there exist a handful of mowers including pre-formed trimming units for facilitating the mowing and trimming operation. For example, the aforementioned '534 and '566 patents disclose trimmer attachments including pivotal booms for carrying one or more trimming heads, with the booms being deflectable around trees and the like for facilitating the trimming operation. Moreover, the '803 patent discloses an integrally formed trimming unit which may be controlled via controls provided on the mower. The combination mowing and trimming units disclosed in the aforementioned '534, '566 and '803 patents nevertheless are inadequate for use for cemeteries and the like for which contact of a boom with a headstone would be unacceptable due to the resultant potential damage to the headstone, and for the adequacy of the trimming operation, as is achievable by the trimming attachment disclosed in the '803 patent. Moreover, the combination mowing and trimming units disclosed in the aforementioned '534, '566 and '803 patents would also be inadequate for use for cemeteries and the like due to the complexity of the inventions disclosed therein, as such units would require an unnecessary degree of maintenance and upkeep for adequate operation, and such units would further require multiple passes for mowing and trimming a given area due to the un-synchronized cutting areas thereof.
It would therefore be of benefit to provide a mower trimmer combination for facilitating mowing and edge trimming of grass and the like in a single pass in cemeteries and other such facilities for which the integrity of fixtures such as headstones, monuments, trees and the like is of paramount importance. It would also be of benefit to provide a mower trimmer combination which is relatively easy to assemble and disassemble, which includes a limited number of required components for ease of operability as well as for increased reliability and robustness of design, and which is economically feasible to manufacture.